Walking the Hackney/Islington border from Dalston to the Regent’s Canal

‘Beating the Bounds’ to mark and confirm the borders between parishes is an ancient tradition, where the border was literally paced out, agreed and marked with stones each year. This is the first of a series of planned walks exploring the borders of today’s Hackney and Islington boroughs, looking at how this has evolved over the centuries due to a mix of changing land ownership, parish church catchments, significance of early settlements and roads, and natural features such as springs and ponds. 

This first walk between Islington and Hackney boroughs follows the lines of Balls Pond Road and Southgate Road, with an amble through De Beauvoir Town too. There’s a wealth of interest on either side of the border, including a leper hospital, almshouses, inns of pleasure and ill repute, pretty 19C residential roads, market gardens, a livestock market, vanished churches, factories and a manor house. 

This walk lasts about 2 hours, and starts and ends near De Beauvoir Square (5 minutes from Haggerston Overground).

Pre book through Eventbrite here